My weekly ritual after work on Friday: An icy gin[2] martini and a pile of unadulterated potato chips. I’ve tried a million times to deviate, but a million times I’ve failed: Nothing else works. Not a vodka martini, not a margarita, not a bowl of nuts, not bagel chips (blech), not a stack of crudite — no matter how fine the vegetables.

Gin martini and plain, grocery-store potato chips, that’s it.

Top tip: Don’t fill your cocktail[3] glass to the rim. You’ll spill it, and worse, by the time you finish the drink it’ll be tepid. Far better to mix a second cocktail[3] than to nurse a lukewarm one.